Side-seaming machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet '1.

0. W. SLEEPER. SIDE SBAMING MACHINE.

No. 585,635. Patented June 29,1897

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G. W. SLEEPER.

SIDE SEAMING MACHINE. No. 585,685. Patented June 29,1897.

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E m M P EM .EG m m w. m I S M d O M o W No. 585,635. Patented June 29,1897.

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m: norms ms :0. mm'ouwo WQSNINGYON u c NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES WV. SLEEPER, OF LANCASTER, NEXV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO.

v THE SLEEPER MACHINE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SlDE-SEAMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,635, dated June 29, 1897.

Application filed August 12, 1896. Serial No. 602,564. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. SLEEPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lancaster, in the county of Coos and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Side-seaming Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of seaming-machines known as locloseamers, in which a can-body blank is formed about a mandrel and acted upon by dies which roll the lapping edges of the bodyblank about each other and lock them together.

The novelty of my invention consists in the arrangement of the feeding device, forming device, and dies, and the mechanism by which these devices are operated.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a top view of body-feeding device. Fig. 3 is a detail of body-feeding cam and cam-rod. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of my invention. Figs. 5 and 6 are details showing manner of operating lower die. Fig. 7 is a detail of motion for actuating upper die. Figs. 8 and 9 are details of body-forming device. Figs. 1O, 12, 18, and 14 are full-size details of dies and scams at different stages of the operation of locking the edges of a canbody blank together and thus forming the seam. Figs. 11, 15, 16, and 17 are details of upper die and tucking-die with mechanism for operating the same. Fig. 18 is a detail of cam-rod e and cam e Fig. 19 is a detail of cam-rodf and cam f. Fig. 20 is a detail of rods 9 g and head 9 Similar characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A is the base of the machine.

A is a column secured to the base.

A is a head secured to A.

A projection A upon the baseA serves as a j ournal-boX for a cam-shaft A another j ournal-boX being provided by boring through the face of the column A.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, a is a tintable secured to the top of the column A. a a are slotted brackets secured to the tintable a by suitable screws (not shown) passing through slots in the brackets and also through suitable slots in the flange of the tintable, one of the-slots a being shown. a is an angle-iron secured to the brackets a a a is a yoke secured to- M. Bracket a and yoke a are provided with a series of holes to receive the screws a a, by which the angle iron 0. is secured to the yoke a and bracket a in a positionparallel to a and at such distance from it that abody-blank a may drop loosely between the perpendicular flanges of the angle-irons a a a is a slide-bar secured to the brackets a a a is a sliding block fitted to a". a is a slotted finger ad j ustably secured by screws to the block a A link connects block a to a lever c4 which is pivoted to a suitable projection a upon the base A. A link a connects lever a with a cam-rod a which slides in a suitable guide a and is provided with a pin and roller to enter the groove in a face-cam e Referring to Figs. 1, 5, 6, 8, and 9, b is a steel mandrel projecting from the face of A to which it is firmly secured. Z) is an eccentric sleeve fitted to the mandrel b and having an outside diameter equal to the inside diameter of the can to be made. The steel mandrel b is made somewhat smaller than the smallest can which the machine is capable of seaming and is always used in connection with the sleeve 1), which is rigidly secured to the steel mandrel, and in this specification when reference is made to the mandrel it will be understood to embrace the steel mandrel b and its sleeve 1). b is a bracket secured to the head A 11 b are wings hinged to the bracket 19 and arranged to wrap about the mandrel. b b are links connecting the wings b b to sliding bars b b, which are arranged to move vertically between suitable guide-rolls projecting from the guides 11 13 b b are links connecting the sliding bars I) with the arms b which move about suitable pins projecting from the face of the column A. The arms Z3 have gear-teeth out upon their inner ends, which teeth are engaged by racks Z7 working in a guide Z9 and acted upon by a cam 12 by means of suitable pins and rollers carried by the racks and entering the groove of the said cam.

Referring to Figs. 1, 5, and 6, c is a die fitted loosely into the mandrel, so that its face shall make an angle of about thirty degrees with the perpendicular. The die 0 rests upon the heads of pins 0 0 The pin 0 passes down nearly through the mandrel, and pin 0 passes down through a portion of the head A which projects beyond the face of column A. c is a cam; 0 a cam-rod provided with pin and roller to engage the cam c and with a T- shaped head 0 through which pass four screws 0 c c a The screws 0 enter suitable projections at the bottom of bracket 12 As the cam-rod c is raised by the cam c the screws 0 c strike the pins 0 c and cause the die 0 to project above the surface of the mandrel. At the same time the screws 0 c strike a key 0 in bracket Z2 and force it against the bottom of the mandrel. When the cam-rod c is pulled down by the cam 0 the die 0 and key 0 return to their former position by gravity.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 7, d is a crank upon the shaft A. d is a segment-shaped block pivoted to the crank. 01 is a forked rod arranged to embrace the shaft A and provided with a segmental groove (1 so arranged that the block cl may move along the groove and across the open space between the points of the fork, as shown in Fig. 7. The upper end of rod-d terminates in a rack which engages a segment-gear d upon the rock-shaft d, which passes through the head A at is an arm secured to the shaft d. d is a double link secured to the die 61 and connecting same with the arm 61 As the shaft A revolves the crank d carries the block (1' along the groove d and across the opening d (above the shaft during the upper part of stroke and below the shaft during the lower half of the stroke,) giving an irregular or quick return motion to the rod 01 the rod moving faster upon the upper half of the stroke, while the shaft A lies outside of the circle of groove 01 and the block d acts upon the convex side of the groove, than upon the lower half of the stroke, when the shaft would lie within the circle of groove (1 and the block d would act upon the concave side of said groove. The arm d operated by the shaft d and connected to the die (1 oscillates between the position shown in Fig. 11 and that shown in Fig. 17, and in making these oscillations the point of connection with link 01 passes the vertical line twice during each complete oscillation. It is obvious that the die d will descend upon the mandrel twice during each revolution of shaft A The die d is guided by links al connecting the die to arms e 6 upon a rock-shaft e, journaled in a suitable projection upon the side of head A and operated by an arm 6 cam-rod c and cam e.

f is a tucking-die substantially the length of die (1 and mounted upon a bar f, which is pivoted to an arm f and guided by a link f which is pivoted to a pin f, projecting from the head A The arm f is attached to a rock-shaft f, to which is also secured an ated by a cam f The machine is provided with a pulley A to receive a belt for driving.

In operation the body-blanks a (pieces of tin cut to suitable size for making a canbody) are placed in a pile upon the tin-table a. The operator takes the body-blanks one at a time and places them upon the angle-irons a a". The finger a then moves toward the machine and pushes the body-blank between the mandrel and the key 0 as shown by dotted line, Fig. 8. The cam-rod c rises, causing the die 0 to project above the mandrel and forcing the key a upward pressing the body-blank against the mandrel. The wings b move from position shown by dotted lines, Fig. 8, and by full lines, Fig. 9, to position shown by full lines, Fig. 8, thus wrap.- ping the can-body blank about the mandrel, the edges being as shown in Fig. 10. The racks I) being both operated by the same cam, it is obvious that one of them must move a little in advance of the other, causing one of the wings b to move in advance of the other, insuring the uniform lapping of the edges of the body in position shown in Fig. 10. The tucking-die f descends to position shown in Figs. 12 and 15, bending the underlapping part of the body, as shown. As the tuoking-die returns to its former posi tion the upper die d being moved vertically by the arm (1 and laterally by the arms 2 e, bends the overlapping edge of the bodyblank over the die 0 and presses it into the angle formed by the upturned underlapping edge, the two edges being loosely locked or hooked together, as shown in Figs. 13 and 16. The upper die d is then moved to a position above the die 0, as shown in Fig. 17, the arm d having reached one extremity of its motion. Upon the return motion of arm (1 the die (1 descends to position shown in Fig. 1, crushing the seam, as shown in Fig. 14:, the die 0 being arranged to descend as the seam is crushed. The wings Z2 b are then moved to position shown by dotted lines, Fig. 8, and the can-body is pushed off from the mandrel by two rods 9 g, which pass through suitable guides in the head A and through grooves in the mandrel. The rods 9 g are moved by a cam g, acting upon a cam-lever g pivoted to the base A and engaging a roller upon a head 9 which connects the two rods 9 g.

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a side-seaming machine, the combination of a mandrel, the die 0, fitted into a longitudinal groove in the mandrel, and arranged to project above and form an acute angle with the surface of said mandrel; a tucking-die f, arranged to press the underlapping edge of a can-body into the angle formed by the projecting edge of the die 0, and the surface of the said mandrel, in such a manner as to turn a portion of the said edge upward and backward, forming an acute angle with the adjacent portion of the can-body; an upper die (1 provided with both vertical and lateral motion, and so arranged as to first bend the overlapping edge of the can-body over the edge of the die 0, and tuck the said overlapping edge, into'the angle formed in the underlapping edge of the can-body, and to then rise and descend upon the interlocking edges of the can-body, and press them together; means for supporting the mandrel, means for raising and lowering the die 0, means for raising, lowering and guiding the tucking-die f, and means for moving the die 01 both vertically and laterally,substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a side-seaming machine, the mandrel and die 0, means for raising the die a, and the die 61 provided with lateral motion, combined with a rock-shaft d and an arm d, arranged to oscillate across a vertical plane passed through the center of the said shaft, and causing the die (i to rise and fall twice to each oscillation of the arm (Z and with the segment-gear d rod 01 block cl, and

crank d, for imparting an irregular oscillating motion to shaft (1 substantially as described.

3. In a side-seaming machine, the mandrel and dies for interlocking the edges of a canbody blank, combined with the bracket b and wings b 1), to form the body-blank about the mandrel, and with the bars b b links 72 Z2 and means for guiding the said bars, and with the links b b toothed arms 19 b 3; racks b, 1), guide W, and cam 29 to open and close the said wings by imparting longi tudinal motion to the bars b", 19, substantially as described.

4. In a side-seaming machine, the mandrel 40 and dies for interlocking the edges of a canbody blank, and the Wings for forming the can-body blank about the mandrel, combined with the tin-table a, brackets a, a the angle-irons a a to receive a body-blank,

g and with the slide-bar a sliding block a finger a, and means for moving the sliding block (1 along the bar a, to push the bodyblank into the machine and place the said body-blank in position to be formed about the mandrel, substantially as described.

CHARLES w. SLEEPER.

Witnesses W. H. LYMAN, A. E. SLEEPER. 

